Truck racks are widely used in the industry for carrying ladders and other elongated items such as PVC pipes and lumber, for example, between work sites. Typically, these racks am mounted above a bed of a pick-up truck and include front, rear and side rails disposed in a generally horizontal position above the truck bed. In known truck rack systems, a ladder is supported on the front and rear rails of the rack, with the ladder being secured to the front and rear rails by elastic cords or other well known means. In this way, the ladder can be safely transported between job sites without compromising the carrying space provided in the bed of the truck.
However, while the truck rack may not compromise the carrying space in the truck bed, it will be appreciated that the location of the ladder on the truck rack can impair access to articles located beneath the ladder. To gain access to these articles, it is common practice to first unsecure the ladder from the front and rear rails of the truck rack and then lift and remove the ladder from the rack before access to the articles can be achieved. Before leaving the site, the ladder must then be lifted and resecured to the truck rack front and rear rails. It will be appreciated that in those instances when the ladder is not being used at the site, the additional lifting of the ladder required to gain access to the truck bed is potentially hazardous to the lifter and others in close proximity, and, in any event, is an undesirable nuisance.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a ladder support accessory which allows convenient access to the bed of a truck, free of obstruction from a ladder, without unsecuring the ladder from the rack.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a ladder support accessory which can be sold in kit form to retrofit existing truck racks and is readily installable by the purchaser.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a ladder support accessory which is readily adaptable to truck racks of varying configurations.